Saudi Aramco and Total ink MoU with Daelim to build a new polyisobutylene facility

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco with its partner Total has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Daelim, a South Korean petrochemical company, as per the company's press release.

Under the MoU, Daelim is planning to build a new 80,000 tons state-of-the-art Polyisobutylene (PIB) plant, which is expected to come on-stream in 2024. This agreement is another step to drive Saudi Aramco’s petrochemicals growth strategy. This follows Saudi Aramco’s announcement in October 2018 to launch an engineering study to build a large petrochemical complex in Jubail.

The launch of the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) of the PIB plant will start in February 2019 and will be concluded in Q4 2019. The new petrochemicals facility will be using feedstock from the Amiral complex in Jubail, located on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast. It is the first time that the PIB product will be developed in the Kingdom.

The facility’s location in Saudi Arabia will give Daelim access to competitive feedstock and energy, with large infrastructure, to better serve customers in the Middle East and markets across Europe and Asia.

This specialty chemical project will be part of the large-scale petrochemical complex of Amiral, located in the value park. It will be using Daelim’s PIB proprietary technology to produce a wide range of products in a single plant, from conventional PIB (CPIB) to highly reactive PIB (HR-PIB).

PIB is a high value-added chemical product and has a wide range of industrial applications such as adhesives, lubricants and fuel additives.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2018, Saudi Aramco and Total launched engineering studies to build a giant petrochemical complex in Jubail. Announced in April 2018, the world-class complex will be located next to the SATORP refinery, operated by Saudi Aramco (62.5%) and Total (37.5%), in order to fully exploit operational synergies. It will comprise a mixed-feed cracker (50% ethane and refinery off-gases) - the first in the Gulf region to be integrated with a refinery - with a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year of ethylene and related high-added-value petrochemical units. The project represents an investment of around USD5 billion and is scheduled to start-up in 2024.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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Cepsa and Cosmo Energy seek new opportunities as partners in the lubricants market

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cepsa and Cosmo have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to study new business opportunities in the lubricants market, both in Spain and Japan and internationally, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The agreement covers potential synergies in the production of lubricants and coolants, the exchange of technology and formulations, and the search for possible partnerships in the marketing of these products, to increase their efficiency.

The alliance also reflects both companies' interest in reaching an agreement to manufacture and supply lubricants and coolants on behalf of the other company, under the Cepsa or Cosmo trademark.

At the signing of this agreement, Pedro Miro, Chief Executive Officer of Cepsa, said: "This new agreement with Cosmo will allow us to continue sharing experience and technology with one of the most important companies in the energy industry in Asia, to achieve complementary strengths that will grow our various business areas."

For his part, Hiroshi Kiriyama, Chief Executive Officer of Cosmo Energy Holdings, as a witness by signing, emphasized: "On this occasion, it is a great privilege for Cosmo to broaden mutual collaboration through each know-how and technology. The new agreement will also deliver reliabilities and values to our customer. Cepsa has been an indispensable partner for Cosmo in Europe and then the both companies are keen to take on new challenges."

Both companies, which form part of the Mubadala portfolio of companies (Cepsa at 100% and Cosmo Energy Holdings at 20.8%), started analyzing business opportunities in 2014, when they signed an initial agreement focused on studying partnership possibilities in the Exploration and Production business.

This alliance laid the foundations to create the subsidiary Cosmo Abu Dhabi Energy Exploration & Production to operate jointly in the United Arab Emirates. Through this partnership (80% Cosmo Energy Exploration & Production, 20% Cepsa), both companies operate four oil fields in Abu Dhabi: Hail, Mubarraz, Umm Al-Anbar and Neewat Al-Ghalan, located in shallow waters to the west of the Emirate.

As MRC reported before, in May 2018, The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced it had signed a project development agreement with Cepsa of Spain for a new, world-scale Linear Alkylbenzene (LAB) facility in ADNOC’s refining and petrochemicals complex in Ruwais, UAE.
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DowDuPont earnings: drops on Q4 results

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DowDuPont reported earnings per share of 88 cents for the fourth quarter of the year. This is an increase over the company’s earnings per share of 83 cents from the same time last year, said the company.

It also matches Wall Street’s earnings per share estimate for the quarter, but wasn’t enough to keep DWDP stock from falling.

Net income reported in the DowDuPont earnings release for the fourth quarter of 2018 came in at USD513 million. This is an improvement over the company’s net loss of USD1.22 billion from the fourth quarter of 2017.

DowDuPont earnings for the fourth quarter of the year also include operating income of USD728 million. The chemical company reported an operating loss of USD2.87 billion in the same period of the year prior.

The most recent DowDuPont earnings report also sees its revenue for the quarter coming in at USD20.10 billion. This is better than its revenue of USD20.07 billion reported in the fourth quarter of the previous year. However, it was bad news for DWDP stock by missing analysts’ revenue estimate of USD20.92 billion for the period.

DowDuPont earnings results for the full year of 2018 were also a bit of a drag for DWDP stock. The company reported earnings per share of $4.11 on revenue of $86.00 billion. Wall Street was looking for earnings per share of USD4.11 on revenue of USD86.78 billion for the year.
MRC

Meridian Energy Group signs McDermott as Davis Refinery EPC contractor

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Meridian Energy Group, Inc., the leading developer of innovative, advanced technology and environmentally-compliant oil refining facilities, has announced that the company has signed an agreement with McDermott out of Houston, Texas under which McDermott will finalize the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for the Meridian Davis Refinery in Billings County, North Dakota, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Following the completion of the FEED effort, the Parties will be prepared to enter into a comprehensive turnkey Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Agreement to build the Davis Refinery. McDermott is a premier, fully – integrated provider of technology, engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry. Meridian has initiated site preparation and grading at the Davis site, and is proceeding with final design and equipment fabrication and procurement with full construction activities and foundation work resuming in Spring 2019.

William Prentice, CEO of Meridian, said of this agreement, "Meridian’s mission is to drive the reinvention of the refining industry, and the Davis Refinery is intended to be the prototype for a new type of refinery. To fulfill this mission, Meridian requires an EPC Partner that shares this vision, and that has the expertise and professionalism to complete Davis and follow-on projects in a reliable and cost-effective manner - Meridian believes that McDermott is that firm and is very happy to be entering into this agreement and finalizing another major milestone on the Davis project."

Lance Medlin, Meridian EVP of Projects on EPC with McDermott, "The Davis Refinery is being designed as a cutting-edge facility, setting a new standard in how emerging energy needs are addressed at regional levels. Meridian’s partnership with McDermott for the engineering and development of the Davis Refinery is another step in what has proven to be the consistently right direction in refining, and we’re proud to announce this next phase in the Davis Project."

As MRC wrote previously, in July 2018, Meridian Energy Group, Inc., announced that the company had executed a contract with SEH Design|Build, Inc., a subsidiary of Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. with an office in Bismarck, North Dakota, for the performance of site and civil design and construction services for the Davis Refinery.
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Johnson Matthey and Eastman Chemical Company license new ethylene glycol technology to Jiutai

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Johnson Matthey and Eastman Chemical Company (Eastman) have announced that their advanced, proprietary technology for the production of ethylene glycol from coal has been selected by Inner Mongolia Jiutai New Material (Jiutai) for its planned 1,000,000 t/y ethylene glycol facility, as per GV.

Ethylene glycol, commonly referred to as mono ethylene glycol (MEG), is a key industrial chemical and is also a building block in the production of polyesters for fiber and packaging applications. Today, the majority of the world’s MEG is produced from ethylene but this new process enables the production of MEG from a variety of raw materials, including coal, natural gas, or biomass, thereby enabling companies to produce MEG without the need to access ethylene.

"Jiutai is pleased to select Johnson Matthey and Eastman’s novel technology for the production of MEG. Jiutai’s aim is to utilize local coal and other precious resources, such as water, in a clean and sustainable manner to produce high value MEG at its new Coal to Chemicals Complex at Togtoh Industrial Park, Togtoh, Inner Mongolia. With the combined efforts of all parties involved in this important project, we are focused on implementing the project in a timely manner and bring great value to the Company in a world class facility," commented Cui Lianguo, Chairman of Jiutai Group at the contract signing ceremony.

Jiutai’s Coal to Chemicals complex will produce synthesis gas by gasification of coal. The synthesis gas will be converted to methanol which will then be converted to formaldehyde from which MEG will be produced.

Johnson Matthey has also licensed to Jiutai its world leading technologies and catalysts for the production of methanol and formaldehyde in an integrated MEG facility, which will maximize feedstock conversion and reduce utility consumption across the multi-step route from syngas to MEG. This, combined with the advanced technology for MEG production and the large capacity, provides significant value addition whilst using abundantly available coal. The methanol plant will be a world scale facility and any excess methanol above that required for MEG production will be used in other Jiutai facilities. The formaldehyde plant will have a capacity of 1,500,000 t/y and will be among the largest single site facility for formaldehyde production in the world.

"We are delighted that Jiutai has selected the MEG technology developed under a collaboration between Johnson Matthey and Eastman. Our focus is to provide highly efficient, sustainable technology and catalysts which enables our customers to maximize their feedstock conversion. Over the past fifty years, JM has applied its world class science and technology to bring many new process technologies and catalysts to the market which have created significant value for our customers. This new MEG technology is the latest addition to our portfolio and we are excited to bring this to market for our customers", said Jane Toogood, Sector Chief Executive, Efficient Natural Resources, Johnson Matthey.

Eastman and Johnson Matthey began development of the MEG technology from synthesis gas over a decade ago. Extensive testing was conducted at the research facilities of Eastman and Johnson Matthey, and the MEG process was developed by combining the complementary capabilities of scientists and engineers of both companies. MEG produced in the process meets all international and Chinese specifications and independent tests have confirmed the quality is maintained over prolonged period of storage.

"The MEG technology was developed through many years of sustained research and development, and by combining the expertise of Eastman and Johnson Matthey in synthesis gas chemistry we are pleased to license this advanced process to Jiutai", said Dr. Peter Miller, Vice President of Stream Development and Operations Technology for Eastman.

As MRC informed earlier, in July 2018, Jacobs Engineering has won a contract from Eastman Chemical to provide capital construction, maintenance and turnaround services at Eastman sites in Longview, Texas, and Kingsport, Tennessee.
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